It is my senior year, I barely have any classes so I decided I want to read as many books outside of school as I can since I barely had time to do that in the last four years. Many people have been raving about Colleen Hoover’s novel It Ends With Us so I decided to jump in and see what the book is about. I have three words I feel for it..
Heartbreaking
Amazing
Complicated
Wow
When I read the description of the book I was expecting a completely different story than I thought. It was articulated in a way that draws you in to love all characters even how bad they are.
I rate this book a 10/10 for sure.
Fair warning, I am a hopeless romantic.
It was so good I read it twice in one week…
Two times, one week. 376 pages x2, 752 pages in one week.
Lily is the main character who is focus point of the novel. Lily is 23 years old, ambitious, naive, sincere, and most importantly, strong. She falls in love with two men who are painted to be the most handsome men you can picture in your mind. Atlas and Ryle are two men you want to pull out of the book and stare at side by side to understand why they are who they are. They both are perceived as sophisticated, charming and passionate men with quite a bit of darkness. More so Ryle is consumed with darkness.
Before reading, I must warn you that there is a lot of domestic violence throughout this book. If it in any way triggers you, maybe research beforehand.
Colleen intertwines Lily’s love between Atlas and Ryle poetically by using letters written by Lily to represent Atlas’s story while switching between the present day with Ryle. Lily struggles daily with her love for Ryle but her “what if” love with Atlas since they were separated at 16. In both stories, you want both men to win Lily, but it’s impossible. They are both so different but similar and obsessed with Lily. Lets break them down.
Atlas Corrigan
Atlas, Atlas, Atlas.. strapped with beautiful blue eyes, light brown hair and a huge heart. He sounds too good to be true. I just wanted to meet him in person. Also, he has so much respect for Lily. Atlas hit rock bottom at 18 years old and was fending for himself. He was made fun of in high school because he was homeless until Lily started helping him. The more they hung out, the more they fell in love. He was there for her while she experienced her father abusing her mother. They we literally each others spines. They held each other up at the worst times of their life.
Why does my heart hurt for atlas?
I am not going to lie– Atlas was living a terrible life and my heart hurt for him and all he needed was Lily. The person Lily became was because of Atlas (Ryle should appreciate that). He was literally at rock bottom, had no assistance and no family rooting for him to become someone. His muse was Lily and without her he would not be the person he is after eight years. I love that the person he was at 18 years old was the same as 26 years old. He never used his trauma as an excuse for his actions. Instead, he used them to build himself to a stronger man. He still had loads of respect and an instrumental amount of love for Lily after all the time they spent away from each other. Atlas is nothing but admirable.
He
is
a
GREEN FLAG!
But we didn’t get enough of him in this book.
RYLE KINCAID
Ryle. Ryle. Ryle. Ryle is the man my 16-21 year old self would have divulged in and wanted every second of his attention despite his inability to control his anger. Ryle has brown hair (I think lol), muscular arms, erratic energy and a neurosurgeon. He gives off an extremely mysterious vibe that it makes you want to stare at him alone in a room and pick at his brain. He is absolutely obsessed with Lily and would move mountains for her. His love for her is consuming; almost like a fantasy. Thats the thing: Ryle is a fantasy because Ryle is damaged. I will absolutely not go any further and ruin an extremely important aspect to this character so I will stop there.
Why does my heart hurt for ryle?
I WANT this book to end with Ryle, but it can’t. He has so many issues that are dangerous.
He is portrayed as very sexy but very very toxic. I think thats the point: as much as you love someone and what they show you, you need to love yourself more. And, actions speak louder than words.
I hope that one day Ryle can be a better person and have the love he has for Lily.
Ryle is complicated.
I will just end it with this quote:
Fifteen seconds. That’s all it takes to completely change everything about a person. Fifteen.
Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us
OKAY ONE MORE QUOTE
Naked truths aren’t always pretty
Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us
AH OK FINE ONE MORE
There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.
Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us